A quick post before bed

OK, it is after midnight, so here is a quick post for today. Lately I have been watching shows on BBC America, like How Clean Is Your House? It has a pair of ladies who know everything about cleaning. I watch and see some positively filthy houses. Dens of squalor, I tell you. It makes me feel better about my clutter. At least it is clean clutter. Just a lot of stuff, not unwashed items or rotting food trash all over, with a house that crawls with pests and smells awful.

These ladies also know tricks with everyday kitchen items to clean the house. They use the phrase "cheap and cheerful." For instance one house was infested with flies because of hte state of the rotting food trash. She said there was no reason to buy fly strips--and then she took painters tape (for easy removal from the window where she hung it) and painted it with a thin coating of honey. Then she stuck the long strip of tape on a windowpane. She said the flies would be attracted to the honey and then get stuck. They checked a short while later and then strip of honey tape had six flies on it.

They also said once to stop buying your trash, meaning quit buying expensive, chemical laden products with tons of packaging that you just end up throwing away. They use housey things like lemon juice, plain salt, warm water, dish liquid, plain white vinegar and sometimes household borax, and something called "biological washing powder." I have to look that up. They make cleaning even nasty filth seem so easy.

It has inspired me to do the small jobs that are most likely to get put off for later, washing walls, scrubbing out trash cans, scrubbing baseboards, dusting all over. It has opened my eyes to the fact that dust accumulates all over.

About the buying your trash thing, though, I am torn. I'd love to spend less money on household cleaners. I'd love to use less harsh chemicals around my home and family. However I love the Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Wand with its disposable scrubby heads. I despise using a traditional germ-ridden toilet brush, and keeping it in its drippy holder, in my bathroom. What a nasty eyesore. I love the toilet wand so very much, and now, I love the toilet gel they make. You press a dollop of the goo under the rim on an already cleaned toilet, and it keeps it clean for a week, and smelling fresh. Love it, love it, love it. I am conflicted about the trash & chemicals versus ease, convenience and being more sanitary though.

I should go to sleep now. I have a bit more cleaning to do in the morning and I need to get up early. I am watching Young Bess, though, and it is intriguing. I'm recording it, so I can watch it later.